Dynamic Mic Shootout Pt 2

This is part two of the dynamic mic shootout. In part one we shot out the SM57, Audix i5, and BLUE Encore 100i on an acoustic guitar. This time around, we’re adding a fourth mic, the Sennheiser e905, and we’re putting them all up on a snare drum. I’d tried to get the positioning as close as possible on all of the mics, but due to physical limitations there is a bit of difference in their positioning. By and large, they are all pointed at an identical angle to the exact same spot on my snare drum. They’re running into an Audient ASP008 pre and using the converter on there as well. I have the high pass filter engaged on all the mics, rolling off at around 80hz, and then they have been gain matched in Pro Tools to keep the levels as even as possible.

This should give you a pretty accurate idea of how differently these mics will respond to the snare itself, cross stick hits, and also bleed from the kick and hi-hat. If you don’t particularly love the tone of any one of these mics, remember that if we were really miking up this kit, we would also have the overheads pulling in a lot of the ambience, and we’d do a bit of that handy ol’ EQ. If you’re trying to choose a good snare mic though, this should be helpful, and maybe a little revealing.

One thing I did want to point out that the audio files won’t, is the build on the microphones. They’re all very well built, but surprisingly the only one of the three that isn’t entirely metal, is the SM57. That’s odd considering it’s known for it’s ruggedness, but it’s the only one with a material that I could easily break with a stray drum hit. Check out the files, and chime in below in the comments. Which was your favorite? Were you surprised? Did you hate all of them?
Sennheiser e905 Pattern 1:

I definitely like the e905 the best. It seems to have the most crisp, detailed sound of the four. It seemed to naturally bring out some nice higher frequencies that I like to hear when EQ’ing a snare.

That said, my least favorite was the Audix i5. It seemed to have the darkest, most muffled sound of them all. I feel like the 100i was slightly better than the i5. After listening to all of the SM57 tracks, I was slightly disappointed because I expected it to sound a lot better. Everyone drums up (no pun intended) how amazing a 57 sounds on snare, but I honestly wasn’t super impressed.

I’d have to agree on the e905, by far the most present full sound. It had just enough bottom end, but didn’t lose definition on the top like the i5, which is funny considering how many great reviews I’ve read for the i5 and how many mediocre reviews I’ve read on the e905….The 57 had to be a close second with the Blue coming in third. At least in my book.